Attending the session was Nguyễn Văn Đoạt, Vice Chairman of the Điện Biên provincial People’s Committee; Vice Chairmen of the People’s Committees of Lai Châu, Lào Cai, and Tuyên Quang provinces; leaders of the People’s Government of Yunnan province; the Consul General of Việt Nam in Kunming, along with leaders of several departments and sectors from the localities of both sides.

At the session, delegates highly appreciated the cooperation results achieved since the 11th Session up to now; discussed and agreed on cooperation contents for the coming time to expand and promote comprehensive cooperative relations among the localities. The Joint Working Group session is an important annual coordination mechanism, focusing on implementing the common perceptions achieved at the Annual Conference among the Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees of the localities. The cooperation content focuses on fields such as border trade, import and export, transport infrastructure connectivity, building smart border gates, logistics, border management, agriculture, tourism, education, healthcare, people-to-people exchanges, and coordination in handling arising issues.

The delegates shared the common assessment: In the context that Việt Nam - China relations continue to develop positively, the Joint Working Group mechanism has made an important contribution to strengthening connectivity and promoting substantive cooperation among the parties.

At the session, the parties unanimously affirmed that Việt Nam and China are “good neighbors, good friends, good comrades, good partners”; continuing together to build a Việt Nam - China community with a shared future that holds strategic significance.

The localities agreed to continue effectively promoting the existing exchange and cooperation mechanisms; strengthen the exchange of delegations at all levels; step up cooperation in training and fostering officials; and coordinate in organizing training courses to improve skills in foreign languages, healthcare, sports, agriculture, and other specialized fields.

Speaking at the session, Nguyễn Văn Đoạt, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee and Head of the Điện Biên Province Joint Working Group, stated clearly: Following the success of the 5th Annual Conference among the Secretaries of the Provincial Party Committees and the 11th Session of the Joint Working Group between the northern provinces of Việt Nam and Yunnan province (China), Điện Biên province has directed all levels, sectors, and localities to seriously and actively implement the signed minutes, achieving many important results.

In order to continue strengthening exchanges and cooperation, and promoting the increasingly substantive and effective development of relations among the parties, Điện Biên province urged Yunnan province to coordinate with Điện Biên province to continue completing the procedures for opening the A Pa Chải - Long Phú bilateral border gate; soon organize the opening announcement ceremony, putting the A Pa Chải - Long Phú bilateral border gate into official operation; continue to step up cooperation in border trade development; create conditions for Yunnan province’s travel enterprises to survey and learn about attractive products and destinations in Điện Biên province, moving towards building programs to bring tourists to Điện Biên province; strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of agriculture, resource protection, ecological environment, and climate change response through organizing training, fostering, learning, and experience exchange classes; and continue granting undergraduate and postgraduate training scholarships for Điện Biên province.

Concluding the session, representatives of the delegations signed the Minutes of the 12th Session of the Joint Working Group between Lào Cai, Lai Châu, Tuyên Quang, and Điện Biên provinces (Việt Nam) and Yunnan province (China).

Prior to the 12th Session of the Joint Working Group between Lào Cai, Lai Châu, Tuyên Quang, and Điện Biên provinces (Việt Nam) and Yunnan province (China), the Joint Working Group divided into 4 discussion groups to propose solutions for promoting development cooperation among the parties in the coming time.